The Latest: First speakers at GOP midterm convention praise Trump ahead of president’s speech
Republicans are gathering in Dallas on Wednesday for a highly unusual two-day midterm convention, a first for the party, that will put President Donald Trump at the center of this fall’s midterm elections.
Trump plans to take the stage both nights, delivering a keynote address Wednesday and then closing remarks after Vice President JD Vance gives his own speech on Thursday. Members of Trump’s Cabinet will also address the convention. Democrats, meanwhile, are planning their own counterprogramming.
Republicans hope the event, which is part rally and part fundraiser, will help catapult their candidates into November, primarily by highlighting the first two years of Trump’s term. The president has insisted that running on his record will give the GOP their best shot at winning, even as his own poll numbers sag.
In an exchange with reporters before his flight to the convention, Trump said oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after the midterm elections. An AP-NORC poll in July offered a stark repudiation of Trump’s handling of the conflict, as results showed about two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran has not been worthwhile.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the stage at the Republican convention and lauded Trump while attacking Democrats.
Bessent cast the midterm election as a stark choice that could undo Trump’s agenda, saying the first thing Democrats would do would be to “dismantle the gains we’ve made under President Trump.”
In particular, he praised Trump Accounts, tax-advantaged accounts enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that can be opened for any child under 18. Babies born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, can get $1,000 in seed money from the U.S. Treasury.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group, was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He was later among those who benefited from Trump’s sweeping clemency action on his first day back in the White House after winning a second term.
Blanche said at the midterm convention that Trump turned “soft-on-crime” laws around.
“President Trump and the vice president said that they have always and they will always back the blue. They put American families first. They prove that that order and prosperity go hand in hand,” he said.
Blanche’s appearance at the convention has raised eyebrows because Justice Department leaders don’t typically speak at such events given the agency’s tradition of political independence.
The Justice Department has defended the move, saying in a social media post on Thursday that Blanche was appearing in his personal capacity and said it was “legal (and has been approved by ethics).”
The Republican midterm convention zeroed in on Trump’s handling of immigration, spotlighting the story of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was killed while out for a run by a Venezuelan man.
GOP Rep. Mike Collins spoke after Riley’s family appeared in a video at the event. Collins is running against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia.
Collins sponsored legislation named after Riley that requires the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes. It was the first bill of Trump’s second administration to be signed into law.
The mood on the floor at the American Airlines Center is much like a traditional presidential-year nominating convention, without the, well, nomination.
Speaker after speaker is praising Trump, the leader of the party, around whom the entire event has been built to gin up Republican enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.
The Rev. Lorenzo Sewell ended his rousing speech reprising the mantra from Trump’s 2024 campaign, “Fight, fight, fight.”
Like any convention, the Texas delegation — this time seated at the very front — is obvious in the sea of white cowboy hats.
And attendees are waving U.S. flags and signs that read “Republicans Are Fixing Democrats’ Mess.” Even the balloons — red, white, blue and gold — are held in nets above the floor waiting to drop when the convention concludes Thursday.
The first lady was not at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, where her husband was speaking later Thursday.
She was at the White House addressing a private Rose Garden reception honoring the White House Historical Association’s Presidential Sites Summit. It’s a regular gathering of leaders from presidential sites across the country.
In remarks that were released by her office, the first lady described the White House as an “architectural autobiography of America” and said the nation’s “ideals and stories are woven directly into the fabric of the White House.”
She also discussed her design work at the mansion, including the design and construction of a tennis pavilion, the renovation of the Queens’ Bedroom and the Queens’ Bathroom, conserving historic wallpaper discovered in the President’s Dining Room and restoring and upgrading the Rose Garden.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in a tightly contested fight to win the Senate seat in the Republican-heavy state, got a hero’s welcome from the audience in Dallas.
“The press, the courts and the establishment all tried to take President Trump down, but he’s won every single time,” Paxton said, drawing cheers. It wasn’t a broad leap to Paxton himself, who has beaten impeachment and state and federal charges, all while winning reelection.
Paxton ravaged his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, describing him as worthy of representing Democratic-leaning California, and challenging his positions on transgender rights and his version of Christianity.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman spoke to the GOP convention in Dallas, an extraordinary escalation in the worsening rupture between the Pennsylvanian and his party.
Fetter recorded a short video introducing Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican.
“I’m always going to stand with America,” Fetterman said. “I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.”
Standing in front of a steel mill, Fetterman said he “will work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life.”
He called McCormick “a great American.”
Fetterman has grown increasingly isolated from his party as he maintains staunch support of Israel’s war in Gaza and criticizes left-wing candidates who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. He’s often gone his own way in the Senate, voting repeatedly with Republicans to end the government shutdown last year while supporting multiple Trump nominations and opposing efforts to end the war in Iran.
The American Airlines Center is filling up as the evening wears on.
While the stadium isn’t full, many of the sections that previously stood empty are now dotted with red “Make America Great Again” hats and cheering supporters.
Laura Loomer has a message for Republicans who skipped the president’s convention: Be more grateful.
The far-right provocateur and Trump ally, who has drawn attention with her often caustic online commentary, has harsh words for those who aren’t in Dallas.
“If you’re not going to show up to support the president so he can carry your sorry ass across the finish line due to a lack of enthusiasm, you better hope that the voters feel enthusiastic about showing up to vote for you,” she said.
She argued 2028 candidates need to be careful not to alienate the president’s base — and that midterm candidates should do the same.
“President Trump isn’t coming to this convention for himself. He’s already won his election. He can’t run for president again. He’s coming up to help the Republicans because history has shown,” she said, “that the GOP is incapable of dragging themselves across the finish line with success without Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. So they should be grateful and appreciative to President Donald J. Trump, the leader of our party.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is in a close race against Democrat James Talarico despite the state’s long history of electing Republicans.
“He is the most radical Democrat in Texas history, but he’s also the most well-funded,” Paxton said. “And that’s why today I need your prayers, your votes and your support.”
“If we lose Texas, we lose the common sense revolution,” he added.
Along with Cabinet members, lawmakers and office seekers, the run-up to the president’s keynote speech at the Republican midterm convention includes short video clips praising Trump.
One video featured swelling music with voiceovers praising aspects of the president’s signature legislation. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s temporary tax freeze on tips and overtime got a sustained spotlight.
“I think it’s going to help a lot of people in the server industry,” one speaker says in the video.
The clips also feature video of the president prominently. In one, he’s standing against a blue curtain, clapping as a voiceover says he’s delivering on his promises
It’s scorching outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but that hasn’t kept thousands of Trump devotees from pouring into the Dallas arena for this unusual midterm Republican convention.
It has the feel of a quadrennial national political convention, just smaller. In fact, it resembles more of a Trump election campaign rally — but with lots more speakers.
Outside the event center, there is tons of Trump swag, including signature “Make America Great Again” hats. The walls of the basketball arena, where the Dallas Mavericks play, are covered with photographs of Trump. There are Trump photographs in the elevators.
The ambience underscores the event’s real purpose of spurring Trump’s most devout supporters to lift Republicans in the midterms.
Speaker after speaker tout Trump’s record, at times prompting the audience to reprise the mantra from the 2024 campaign, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Colorado Rep. Jason Crow is among the Democratic members of Congress who traveled to Dallas to offer a counter to Trump’s run of show inside American Airlines Center.
“Like most things, Donald Trump is not making it about Americans,” Crow told The Associated Press. “He’s not making it about Sept. 11. He’s not making it about the midterms. He is not making it about saving Republicans who are at risk. He’s making it about himself.”
Crow said Democrats will key on Trump’s failure to deliver on his economic promises while explaining how they would address rising costs and use their House majority to investigate Trump’s administration and his family’s financial dealings.
“Our job is to highlight the abuses, the failings,” he said, “and to try to make the case as to how we will fix this and retake our democracy.”
House GOP leaders Reps. Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer used stark language in their attacks on Democrats.
“These people are insane,” Scalise, the House majority leader, said of the opposition party. The Democratic Party has been “completely taken over by communists” in a “Bolshevik revolution,” he said.
If Republicans stay home in November, Democrats will win the House majority and will go on the attack, he warned.
“The first thing they’ll do is they’ll impeach President Trump and his Cabinet,” he said.
Emmer, the House majority whip, said Democrats “hate your country.”
“This is a country worth fighting for,” Emmer said. “We will not let the Marxists and communists and anarchists destroy it.”
Emmer called out three Democrats by name: Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar and Abdul El-Sayed, three of the nation’s most prominent Muslim politicians.
Opponents of redistricting in Missouri have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after an appeals court let stand a new map backed by Trump.
It’s is the latest turn in the legal battle over the 2025 redistricting. The changes are aimed at helping Republicans gain an extra seat in their effort to maintain control of the U.S. House.
More appeals are expected, however, with the midterm elections fast approaching.
It comes shortly before ballots begin going out in the pivotal midterm elections.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, one of the most endangered Republicans in the House, talked up GOP healthcare plans.
His speech confronted an issue that Democrats see as one of their best.
“You deserve high quality, readily available and actually affordable healthcare,” Van Orden said. “You know who else knows this? Our great President Donald J. Trump.”
Democrats warn that millions of Americans will lose health coverage under the GOP budget that Trump dubbed “one big beautiful bill.” They say that threatens to bankrupt rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid payments to keep their doors open.
But Van Orden offered a different view. He highlighted a $50 billion investment in the Rural Health Transformation Program.
“These investments have made a real difference to real people all over rural America,” he said.
Turner, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, was the first Cabinet member to speak at the midterm convention.
He told the audience that Trump ended diversity, equity and inclusion, commonly called “DEI,” and that “biological truth” was back. Housing assistance, he said, was meant to be a “trampoline and not a hammock.”
A former football player who spent nine seasons in the NFL, Turner is a native of the area near where the convention is being held.
A Dallas mother says she left the Democratic Party because of what she saw as government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the GOP convention, Ally Raskin said her daughter was required to stay out of school for longer than vaccinated kids in her class after an exposure to the virus. She said she pulled the girl from school and sued the district.
“That experience changed me,” Raskin said. “It became impossible for me to ignore how deeply political decisions can affect our basic freedoms.”
After that, she ran to be a Republican precinct leader and pushed her county to hand count ballots. She said she found her “political home” and her voice.
Republican Carlos De La Cruz, running in Texas’ newly drawn 35th District, praised Trump for securing the border in “record time” during a speech before the GOP midterm convention.
De La Cruz had listed himself as a “TRUMP CONSERVATIVE” on his campaign website. That changed to “PROVEN CONSERVATIVE.”
His campaign rejected a suggestion that he was moving away from the president.
The change came amid a sprint to Election Day as a small group of Republican candidates has quietly begun to distance themselves in subtle ways.
Republican delegates were seated on the center floor of the arena in sections near signs designating the states they represent. In the seats on the sides of the arena, other attendees were starting to file in.
Those in their seats chatted with each other and took photos, giving modest applause to the speakers.
Many in the crowd were given red American flag signs to wave.
Joe Gruters opened the convention by clanking a comically oversized gavel.
“The Republican Party is America’s party,” Gruters said. The GOP, he said, is “faith, family, community and country.”
He laid out the contrast Republicans plan to drive over the next two nights:
“Republicans are delivering freedom, opportunity, security and common sense,” Gruters said. “Democrats are being overtaken by radical socialists driving their party further and further from the values that make America great.”
And Gruters delivered the first of what is likely to be a steady stream of effusive praise for Trump, calling him “the greatest Republican messenger of our lifetime” and “the best president this country has ever had.”
The Republican midterm convention kicked off with the national anthem and “America the Beautiful,” alongside an honor guard presenting the U.S. and other flags.
Before the songs, an announcer said the party was ready to “fight, fight, fight” Democrats.
Calling Mexico “an even graver challenge” than other countries in the region because of cartels’ power there, Rubio said Wednesday that the “ideal” scenario would be for the two countries to address the situation jointly.
“Eventually that threat will have to be confronted one way or the other,” Rubio told reporters in Ecuador. “But our hope is to do it cooperatively with Mexican authorities.”
Rubio complimented Mexican authorities for doing “more than they’ve ever done before to go after these groups, but it is still not nearly enough.”
Asked by reporters if the U.S. knows which countries are helping Tehran in the ongoing war, Rubio said the U.S. doesn’t believe that foreign assistance is helping the country, as both sides have returned to open hostilities in recent weeks.
“We don’t believe anybody is giving Iran anything that’s changing the dynamics or the parameters of what we’re seeing,” Rubio said while in Ecuador. “At the end of the day, they continue to fire on naval ships and when they fire at our naval ships, they pay a price in tankers.
He added, “In the meantime, we’re going to continue to strangle them economically.”
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